[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 71 (Friday, April 13, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 18659-18660]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-6983]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Food and Drug Administration

[Docket No. 2007N-0015]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for Office 
of Management and Budget Review; Comment Request; Adoption of the Food 
and Drug Administration Food Code by Local, State, and Tribal 
Governments

AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS.

[[Page 18660]]


ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is announcing that a 
proposed collection of information has been submitted to the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) for review and clearance under the 
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

DATES: Fax written comments on the collection of information by May 14, 
2007.

ADDRESSES: To ensure that comments on the information collection are 
received, OMB recommends that written comments be faxed to the Office 
of Information and Regulatory Affairs, OMB, Attn: FDA Desk Officer, 
FAX: 202-395-6974.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jonna Capezzuto, Office of the Chief 
Information Officer (HFA-250), Food and Drug Administration, 5600 
Fishers Lane, Rockville, MD 20857, 301-827-4659.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In compliance with 44 U.S.C. 3507, FDA has 
submitted the following proposed collection of information to OMB for 
review and clearance.

Adoption of the Food and Drug Administration Food Code by Local, State, 
and Tribal Governments (OMB Control Number 0910-0448)--Extension

    FDA has developed its model Food Code to assist and promote 
consistent implementation of national food safety regulatory policy 
among the local, State, and tribal governmental agencies that have 
primary responsibility for the regulation or oversight of retail level 
food operations. The FDA Food Code provides a scientifically sound 
technical and legal basis for regulating the retail segment of the food 
industry. Authority for providing such assistance is derived from 
section 311(a) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 243(a)). 
Under 31 U.S.C. 1535, FDA provides assistance to other Federal agencies 
such as the Indian Health Service.
    Nationwide adoption of the model FDA Food Code is an important step 
toward the agency's goal for consistent, scientifically sound, and 
risk-based food safety standards and practices. A current, 
comprehensive, and accurate inventory of food code adoptions by States 
and U.S. territories, local, and tribal governments is necessary to 
determine the status of up-to-date protection of the U.S. population 
and to identify areas where assistance to these governments may promote 
the adoption of regulations based on the FDA Food Code.
    This collection effort, which began in 2001, has had remarkable 
success with 97 percent participation from State and territorial 
governmental agencies. FDA contracted with the Association of Food and 
Drug Officials (AFDO) to conduct the initial survey using the OMB 
approved survey form. The rulemaking process that local, State, 
territorial, and tribal governmental agencies must follow to adopt the 
model FDA Food Code is often a long and complicated process that can 
extend for several years. For this reason, many agencies have reported 
that they are still in the rulemaking process to adopt or update their 
food codes. Thus, FDA believes that extension of OMB approval of the 
survey is needed in order to keep the current database accurate and up-
to-date. AFDO will collect the information electronically and/or 
telephonically and will be able to provide respondents with previous 
survey responses already in the database.
    Description of Respondents: States and U.S. territories, local, and 
tribal governmental agencies.
    In the Federal Register of January 26, 2007 (72 FR 3862), FDA 
published a 60-day notice requesting public comment on the information 
collection provisions. We received one comment, which was non-
responsive to our request for comments on the proposed information 
collection.

                                                     Table 1.--Estimated Annual Reporting Burden\1\
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                                                              No. of         Annual Frequency       Total Annual        Hours per
                   Food Code Survey                        Respondents         per Response          Responses           Response         Total Hours
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Respondents                                                            75                     4                300                  1                300
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\1\There are no capital costs or operating and maintenance costs associated with this collection of information.

    This estimate is based on FDA's experience and the number of 
updates received in the past 3 years. FDA has reduced the estimated 
number of annual respondents from 150 to 75. FDA estimates that 75 
respondents will provide four quarterly updates each, resulting in an 
estimated 300 total annual responses. The agency estimates that each 
quarterly update will take about 1 hour. Of the 75 respondents, those 
who amend their regulations with changes unrelated to the risk factors 
and interventions, and those who are not adopting model FDA Food Code 
provisions, but are incorporating certain Conference for Food 
Protection recommendations only, will likely need only annual contact.

    Dated: April 9, 2007.
Jeffrey Shuren,
Assistant Commissioner for Policy.
[FR Doc. E7-6983 Filed 4-12-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4160-01-S